GREAT HEALING REVIVALISTS -HOW GOD'S POWER CAME.

BY ANDREW STROM & LARRY MAGNELLO.

Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, Maria Woodworth-Etter, John Alexander Dowie and others,
plus the ENIGMA OF WILLIAM BRANHAM...

Copyright (c) 1996, 2004.

PERMISSION IS GRANTED to 'link'-to, photocopy and pass around this work. However, if you wish
to 'publish' it or parts of it, you will need to obtain permission first.

Introduction

"FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT"

The Greek words for "BE FILLED with the Holy Spirit" (Eph 5:18), should
be translated, "BE BEING FILLED with the Holy Spirit". In other words,
we are to be constantly seeking God so that we will become more and more
full of His Holy Spirit. Some people believe that we Christians only
receive one infilling of God's Spirit in our lifetime. Such people may
be sincere, but they are SINCERELY WRONG. This article is about men and
women of God who were not satisfied with an initial token of God's grace
or presence in their lives. They were hungry for more, and in their desperation
for greater and greater depths in God, they smashed through
every barrier and overthrew every obstacle to experience an ever-greater
measure of God's holy presence and glory,- and to gain an anointing the
like of which has rarely been seen since the days of the apostles.

It was MORE OF JESUS that they were hungering after, and He did not disappoint
them, though the road was often narrow and winding. It was a
path that few cared to travel. But it was simply not enough to be Spirit-
baptized and speaking in tongues. They had to be ENDUED WITH POWER
FROM ON HIGH,- baptized with the Holy Spirit AND WITH FIRE. And they
had to see God glorified in their day, in the most profound way possible.
They could not bear to live any longer, the way things were. Where was
the power, where was the glory of apostolic days? They took it upon
themselves, and were almost driven onward by God - to find out.

And so, with fastings and prayer, with agonizing travail and wrestlings
such as Jacob had with God, with ridding their lives not only of their
sins, but of their fleshly, soulish "WAYS" also - the ways of man's
strength and man's power,- they battled on, right into the very throneroom
of God. And by the time they got there they were truly broken and
humbled men and women, true possessors of 'clean hands and a pure heart'.
And He met them there in the most profound way. Tell me, friend, do
you hunger and thirst after more of God? Is it your one desire to love
Him with ALL your heart and ALL your mind and ALL your soul and ALL
your strength? And do you desire to see Him glorified on the earth to
the highest possible degree? "And you shall seek me, and find me,
WHEN YOU SHALL SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART" (Jer 29:13).

Chapter One

SMITH WIGGLESWORTH.

Smith Wigglesworth was without doubt one of the most anointed men
of God that has lived in recent times. He was known as the Apostle of
Faith, and if anyone deserved to be described as "full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost", it was him. He lived and walked continually in the presence
of God. And the miracles that accompanied his ministry were of the
sort that have seldom been seen since the days of the apostles. People
born blind and deaf, cripples - twisted and deformed by disease, others
on death's door with cancer or sickness of every kind,- all were healed
by the mighty power of God. Even the dead were raised.

Born in 1859 into poverty, Smith Wigglesworth was converted by the
Methodists at eight years of age. Even then, he was hungry for God and
hungry for souls. He was in the choir of the local Episcopal church.
"When most of the boys in the choir were twelve years of age they had
to be confirmed by the bishop. I was not twelve, but between nine and
ten, when the bishop laid his hands on me. I can remember that as he
imposed his hands I had a similar experience to the one I had forty
years later when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. My whole body was
filled with the consciousness of God's presence, a consciousness that
remained with me for days. After the confirmation service all the other
boys were swearing and quarreling, and I wondered what had made the difference
between them and me." (Stanley Frodsham, 'Smith Wigglesworth,
Apostle of Faith', pg 13. -Most of the following quotes are also taken
from this excellent book).

Later, Wigglesworth was fully-immersed in water by the Baptists. But
please remember that all of his early years of ministry and seeking God
came well before the 'Azusa Street' Revival and the early Pentecostal
movement. Smith had a hunger after God, and he experienced many breakthroughs
into new levels of anointing even well before he experienced
the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. He was already
renowned for his healing ministry, and had seen God move in great power,
even well before the new Pentecostal experience was being talked about.
Unlike us today, who basically begin with Baptism in the Spirit as our
first real anointing, for Smith this was the culmination of years of
seeking and hungering after God, and so it was much closer to a real
New Testament enduement of "power from on high".

Smith Wigglesworth: "I had the grounding in Bible teaching among the
Plymouth Brethren. I marched under the blood and fire banner of the
Salvation Army, learning to win souls in the open air. I received the
second blessing of sanctification and a clean heart under the teaching
of Reader Harris and the Pentecostal League. I claimed the gift of the
Holy Spirit by faith as I waited ten days before the Lord. But in Sunderland,
in 1907, I knelt before God and had an Acts 2:4 experience..."
(Pg 119). He described this experience as follows: "She [Mrs Boddy, a
minister's wife] laid her hands on me and then had to go out of the room.
The fire fell. It was a wonderful time as I was there with God alone. He
bathed me in power. I was conscience of the cleansing of the precious
blood, and I cried out: 'Clean! Clean! Clean!' I was filled with the joy
of the consciousness of the cleansing. I was given a vision in which I
saw the Lord Jesus Christ. I beheld the empty cross, and I saw Him
exalted at the right hand of God the Father. I could speak no longer
in English, but I began to praise Him in other tongues as the Spirit of
God gave me utterance. I knew then, although I might have received
anointings previously, that now, at last, I had received the real Baptism
in the Holy Spirit as they received on the day of Pentecost." (Pg 44).

After this experience, there was no stopping Smith Wigglesworth. He was
a flame for God, and the fire fell wherever he went. He said: "I believe
God's ministers are to be flames of fire. Nothing less than flames.
Nothing less than mighty instruments, with burning messages, with hearts
full of love. They must have a DEPTH OF CONSECRATION, that God has taken
full charge of the body, and it exists only that it may manifest the
Glory of God. A Baptism into death in which the person is purified and
energized..." He was certainly possessor of an audacity, a daring, a
boldness the like of which has rarely been seen in Christendom in modern
times. It was not uncommon for him to announce in his meetings: "Every
sermon that Christ preached was prefaced by a model miracle. We are
going to follow His example. The first person in this large audience that
stands up, whatever his or her sickness, I'll pray for that one and God
will deliver him or her." And the first person to stand, even if they
were the most deformed cripple, would be healed!

On another typical occasion, a man came forward for prayer for stomach
pain, and, commanding the pain to be gone, Wigglesworth punched
the man in the stomach so hard that he was sent half-way across the
room (completely healed)! This kind of thing happened more than once.
Wigglesworth believed in COMMANDING the sick to be healed in Jesus'
name. His was an aggressive, holy faith. He was a "violent" man, taking
ground from the devil by force. And yet he was also a man of great compassion,
as well as of great authority. The devil certainly felt it when
Smith Wigglesworth hit town!

A number of people were also raised literally from the dead under Smith's
ministry. Here is his own account of one occasion: "My friend said, 'She
is dead.' He was scared. I have never seen a man so frightened in my
life. 'What shall I do?' he asked. You may think that what I did was absurd,
but I reached over into the bed and pulled her out. I carried her
across the room, stood her against the wall and held her up, as she was
absolutely dead. I looked into her face and said, 'In the name of Jesus
I rebuke this death.' From the crown of her head to the soles of her
feet her whole body began to tremble. 'In the name of Jesus, I command
you to walk,' I said. I repeated, 'In the name of Jesus, in the name of
Jesus, walk!' and she walked." (Pg 59). Not only was this woman raised
from the dead, but she was instantly healed from a terrible illness also.
She began to testify to people of her death experience and restoration.
It has been recorded that Smith Wigglesworth raised 23 people from the
dead in total, over the years of his ministry.

One time when Smith was waiting at a bus-stop, a woman was having trouble
getting her small dog, which had followed her, to go home. First she
tried sweet-talking it, and asking it to please go home. But after awhile
of trying this to no avail, the woman suddenly stamped her foot and said
severely: 'Go home at once!' The dog immediately took off home, with it's
tail between it's legs. 'That's how you have to treat the devil', said
Wigglesworth, loudly enough for all those waiting at the bus-stop to
hear. And this was his attitude toward the devil, every moment of every
waking day. He literally travelled the world in the 1920's and 1930's,
and thousands were saved and healed everywhere he went. Often he would
arrive in a place almost unknown and unheralded, but within days there
would be thousands thronging to hear, the power of God demonstrated in
his meetings was so great. God was truly glorified everywhere he went.

He was a man who walked and lived in the very presence of God. And yet,
in many ways he was a very natural, down-to-earth man. And neither
was he afraid of issuing the odd stern rebuke. His object was to be in
constant, unbroken communion with the Father. He had spent hours and days
fervently seeking God in his early years, but later, "Although his life
was a combination of incessant prayer and praise, and every word and
work was an act of worship, he was not given to protracted periods of
fasting and prayer." (Pg 122). Instead, he had learned the secret of
being in continuous, intimate communion with God (sometimes withdrawing
quietly into himself for this purpose), even when he was in a crowd of
people. He walked by faith, and he was "in the Spirit" at all times. This
was one vital secret to his success. He said, "There are two sides to
this Baptism: The first is, you possess the Spirit; The second is that
the Spirit possesses you." (See 'The Life of Smith Wigglesworth' by Jack
Hywel-Davies). He had counted the cost, and everything was God's. He was
a man who truly understood GODLY AUTHORITY, and he WALKED in it by faith.
He said, "'Be filled with the Spirit,' ie., be CRAMMED with the Spirit,
so filled that there will be no room left for anything else." That was
the way he lived. Full of audacity, full of daring, "full of faith and
of the Holy Ghost."

On one occasion, he recalled, "I was travelling to Cardiff in South
Wales. I had been much in prayer on the journey. The carriage was full
of people whom I knew to be unsaved, but as there was so much talking
and joking I could not get in a word for my Master. As the train was
nearing the station, I thought I would wash my hands... and as I returned
to the carriage, a man jumped up and said, 'Sir, you convince me of
sin,' and fell on his knees there and then. Soon the whole carriage of
people were crying out the same way. They said, 'Who are you? What are
you? You convince us all of sin'..." (Stanley Frodsham, 'Smith Wigglesworth,
Apostle of Faith', pg 80). This episode reminds me very much of
another bold, forthright and anointed evangelist - Charles G. Finney, who
had found after a mighty Baptism of the Holy Spirit some years before,
that even passing comments that he made pierced people to the heart with
conviction of sin. He had gone on to become one of the greatest Revivalists
of all time. (He died in 1875).

Smith Wigglesworth placed great emphasis on purity and holiness, like
all true Revivalists. He said, "You must every day make higher ground.
You must deny yourself to make progress with God. You must refuse everything
that is not pure and holy. God wants you pure in heart. He wants
you to have an intense desire after holiness... Two things will get you
to leap out of yourselves into the promises of God today. One is purity,
and the other is FAITH, which is kindled more and more BY PURITY." (Pg
125). This one statement contains what is probably the key secret to
Smith Wigglesworth's outstanding success in God. And it is obviously a
key that is well worth remembering for us also. Another point to remember
is that Smith was very aware of the dangers of money, and guarded
himself carefully against the possibility of covetousness entering
in. He was truly beyond reproach in this area also.

It is my belief that Smith Wigglesworth was a kind of direct "forerunner"
of the kind of ministries that are about to arise in our day. I believe
that the coming apostolic ministries, who will be bearers of true Revival
in these last days, will combine the daring, miracle-working faith of a
Smith Wigglesworth with the deeply convicting 'repentance' preaching of
a Charles Finney. And they will move under a mighty anointing that combines
the best of both of these types of ministries. What glorious days
these will be! Smith Wigglesworth himself died in 1946 at the ripe old
age of 87, a flame of God to the very end. May he be an example to
us all.

Chapter Two

JOHN G. LAKE.

John G. Lake was known as God's "Apostle to Africa". Born in Canada
in 1870, his family soon relocated to the United States, where he grew
up. His healing and preaching ministry spanned the years 1898 (when he
saw his wife instantly healed under the ministry of John Alexander
Dowie) until his death in 1935. In 1908, God sent him to Africa, where
his anointed miracle ministry resulted in what has been described as
"the most extensive and powerful missionary movement in all Africa." As
Gordon Lindsay wrote, "during that time he spent five history-making
years in South Africa, engaged in a ministry which in some respects
rivalled that of the Early Church." Upon his return to America, Lake
established a ministry in Spokane, Washington which resulted in no less
than 100,000 astounding miracles of healing within the space of five or
six years. He then established a similar work in Portland, Oregon, which
also attracted widespread attention.

Like Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake had already experienced mighty
breakthroughs, powerful anointings and a real calling from God for many
years before Azusa Street and the Pentecostal Revival. The following is
a condensed account of the spiritual hunger and preparation that Lake
was taken through by God, near the beginning of the most anointed period
of his ministry. (Taken from the book, 'John G. Lake - Apostle to
Africa', compiled by Gordon Lindsay, and told in Lake's own words):

"Eight years passed after God revealed Jesus the Healer to me. I had
been practicing the ministry of healing. During that eight years every
answer to prayer, every miraculous touch of God, every response of my
own soul to the Spirit had created within me a more intense longing for
an intimacy and a consciousness of God, like I felt the disciples of
Jesus and the primitive church had possessed... Shortly after my entrance
into the ministry of healing, while attending a service where the necessity
for the Baptism of the Spirit was presented, as I knelt in prayer and
reconsecration to God, an anointing of the Spirit came upon me. Waves
of Holy Glory passed through my being, and I was lifted into a new realm
of God's presence and power. After this, answers to prayer were frequent
and miracles of healing occurred from time to time. I felt myself on the
borderland of a great spiritual realm, but was unable to enter in fully,
so my nature was not satisfied with the attainment..." (Pg 16).

"Hundreds, and hundreds of people were healed by the power of God during
these ten years. But at the end of that ten years, I believe I was the
hungriest man for God that ever lived. There was such a hunger for God
that as I left my offices in Chicago, and walked down the street, my
soul would break out, and I would cry, 'Oh God!' I have had people
stop and look at me, and wonder. It was the yearning passion of my
soul, asking for God in a greater measure than I knew. But my friends
would say, 'Mr. Lake, you have a beautiful Baptism of the Holy Ghost.'
Yes, it was nice as far as it went, but it was not answering the cry of
my heart. I was growing up into a larger understanding of God, and my
own soul's need. My soul was demanding a greater entrance into God, His
love, Presence, and Power. And then one day an old man strolled into
my office, sat down, and in the next half hour, he revealed more of the
knowledge of God to my soul than I had ever known before. When he left
I said, '... God, if that is what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with
tongues does, I am going to possess it.' Oh the wonder of God, that
was then revealed to my heart!..."

"Finally I was led to set aside certain hours of the day that I dedicated
to God, as times of meditation, and prayer. Thus a number of months
passed, until one morning as I knelt praying, the Spirit of the Lord
spoke within my spirit, and said, "Be patient until autumn." My heart
rejoiced in this encouragement and I continued my practice of meditation
and prayer as formerly. It became easy for me to detach myself from the
course of life, so that while my hands and mind were engaged in the common
affairs of every day, my spirit maintained its attitude of communion
with God... I said, 'God, if you will baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and
give me the power of God, nothing shall be permitted to stand before me
and a hundred-fold obedience.'

"I prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for nine months, and if a
man ever prayed honestly, and sincerely in the faith, I did. Finally one
day I was ready to throw up my hands, and quit. I said, 'Lord, it may be
for others, but it is not for me. You just cannot give it to me.' I did
not blame God. One night a gentleman by the name of Pierce said, 'Mr.
Lake, I have been wishing for a long time you would come over, and we
would spend a night in prayer together. We have been praying for the Baptism
for a whole year and there is not one of us baptized yet. Brother,
I do not believe that you are either, so we can pray for one another." I
was so hungry to pray, so I went with all intentions of praying for the
rest, but I had not been praying five minutes until the light of God began
to shine around me, I found myself in a center of an arc of light ten
feet in diameter, the whitest light in all the universe. So white! Oh how
it spoke of purity. The remembrance of that whiteness, that wonderful
whiteness, has been the ideal that has stood before my soul, of the
purity of the nature of God ever since.

"Then a Voice began to talk to me out of that light. There was no form.
And the Voice began to remind me of this incident, and that incident of
disobedience to my parents, from a child; of my obstinacy, and dozens
of instances when God brought me up to the line of absolutely putting
my body, soul, and spirit upon the altar forever. I had my body upon the
altar for ten years, and I had been a minister of the Gospel. But when
the Lord comes, He opens to the soul the depths that have never been
touched in your life. Do you know that after I was baptized in the Holy
Ghost, things opened up in the depths of my nature that had remained
untouched in all my life, and that which was shadowy, distant, and hazy
became real. God got up close and let His light shine into me.

"Shortly after this experience, one afternoon a brother minister called,
and invited me to accompany him to visit a lady who was sick. Arriving
at the home we found the lady in a wheel chair. All her joints were set
with inflammatory rheumatism. She had been in the condition for ten
years...While my friend was conversing with her, preparing her to be
prayed with, that she might be healed, I sat in a deep chair on the
opposite side of a large room. My soul was crying out to God in a
yearning too deep for words, when suddenly it seemed to me, that I had
passed under a shower of warm tropical rain, which was not falling upon
me, but through me. My spirit, and soul and body under this influence
soothed into such a deep still calm, as I had never known. My brain,
which had always been so active, became perfectly still. An awe of the
presence of God settled over me. I knew it was God.

"Some moments passed; I do not know how many. The Spirit said, 'I
have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. You are now Baptized
in the Holy Spirit.' Then currents of power began to rush through my
being from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. The shocks of
power increased in rapidity, and voltage. As these currents of power
would pass through me, they seemed to come upon my head, rush through
my body, and through my feet into the floor... Even at this late date,
the awe of that hour rests upon my soul. My experience has truly been as
Jesus said that He shall be within you 'a well of water, springing up
into everlasting life.' That never-ceasing fountain has flowed through
my spirit, soul, and body day, and night, bringing salvation, and healing,
and the Baptism of the Spirit in the power of God to multitudes.

"Shortly after my Baptism in the Holy Spirit, a working of the Spirit
commenced in me, that seemed to have for it's purpose the revelation of
the nature of Jesus Christ to me and in me. Through this tuition and
remolding of the Spirit a great tenderness for mankind was to awaken in
my soul. I saw mankind through new eyes. They seemed to me as wandering
sheep, having strayed far, in the midst of confusion, groping
and wandering hither and thither. They had no definite aim and did not
seem to understand what the difficulty was or how to return to God. The
desire to proclaim the message of Christ, and demonstrate His power to
save and bless, grew in my soul until my life was swayed by this overwhelming
passion." (Pg 16-20).

"I found that my life began to manifest in the varied range of the gifts
of the Spirit. I spoke in tongues by the power of God, and God flowed
through me with a new force. Healings were of a more powerful order.
Oh, God lived in me; God manifested in me; God spoke through me. My
spirit was energized. I had a new comprehension of God's will, a new
discernment of spirit, and a new revelation of God in me.

"Then a new wonder manifested. My nature became so sensitized, that I
could lay hands on any man, or woman, and tell what organ was diseased,
and to what extent, and all about it. I tested it. I went into hospitals
where physicians could not diagnose a case, touched a patient, and
instantly I knew the organ that was diseased, its extent, condition, and
location. And one day it passed away. A child plays with a toy, and his
joy is so wonderful, he sometimes forgets to eat."

Before obeying the call into full-time ministry, Lake felt the need to
dispose of his very successful business interests. He sold everything,
giving the money to God's work, and embarked on full-time ministry with
a heart full of the fire of God. Soon afterward, when he was ministering
in a city in Northern Illinois, God spoke to him clearly and distinctly:
"Go to Indianapolis. Prepare for winter campaign. Get a large hall.
In the Spring you will go to Africa."

John G. Lake continues: "One morning when I came down to breakfast,
I found my appetite had disappeared. I could not eat. I went about my
work as usual. At dinner I had no desire to eat, and no more in the
evening. This went on till the third day. But toward the evening of the
third day, an overwhelming desire to pray took possession of me. I wanted
only to be alone to pray. Prayer flowed from my soul like a stream.
I could not cease praying. As soon as it was possible to get to a place
of seclusion, I would kneel to pour out my heart to God for hours. Whatever
I was doing, that stream of prayer continued flowing from my soul
... On the night of the sixth day of this fast, that the Lord had laid on
me, while in the act of washing my hands, the Spirit said, 'How long have
you been praying to cast out demons?' and I replied, 'Lord a long time.'
And the Spirit said, 'From henceforth, thou shalt cast out demons.' I
arose and praised God." (Pg 21). An opportunity to test this newly-given
anointing to cast out demons came the following Sunday, when a violently
insane man was brought to Lake, who commanded the demon to come out
of him in Jesus' name. The man was instantly delivered, and two days
later was released from the institution that he had been confined in.

In April 1908, Lake and his family left for South Africa. Though they
had no visible means of support, they were miraculously provided for every
step of the way. And thus began a tremendous Revival, with mighty
healings, miracles and deliverances, which was to profoundly impact the
African continent for years to come, even long after Lake was gone. In
1913, following the tragic death of his wife, Lake returned to America,
but by this time the torch had also been passed on to Elias Letwaba and
others in Africa, and the work went on there, in great power. Lake
continued his ministry in North America until his death in 1935, and like
Smith Wigglesworth, he fought an outstanding fight and ran a great
race, right to the very end.

Chapter Three

W.V. GRANT, Snr.

A number of great healing evangelists have been led by God to "fast and
pray" for quite long periods in order to break through into greater
realms of anointing and communion with God. W.V.Grant Sr, who was a
mightily used and anointed man of God from mid-way through last century, was one
such evangelist. Before coming into his full ministry anointing, he was
one who spent all his spare time with Jesus in the secret place. This
man constantly sought God, and fasted on the weekends. He read many
books of God's servants in the past and studied his Bible day and night.
He would pray for a couple of days until he got answers. He would not
leave his prayer room until he got an answer from God. This and
Christian work was virtually his lifestyle for fourteen years.

He had already received the baptism in the Holy Spirit fourteen years
earlier, and he spoke in tongues. "Yet, I felt like I had a bow without
an arrow, a car without a battery, or a boat without a paddle. I read
how Peter did it, but I could not do it. I had the highway map. I was on
the right road, but on the wrong side." (W.V. Grant, 'Searching for the
Supernatural', pg 6). "I prayed around the altar. I fasted three days at
a time. I testified about a supernatural God. I told people that I had
the Holy Ghost. I spoke in tongues to prove it. All the time my heart was
crying out, Where are all the miracles the Bible tells us about?" (Pg 2).

"I was a director over 13 churches... I saw people saved, filled with the
Holy Ghost with other tongues. I saw a few people healed. I preached
that we had the Pentecostal power. But where were the results we saw
in the early church after Pentecost?... I read about 200 books written
by Godly men. I read every word in the Pentecostal Evangel for years...
After I fasted three days I still felt empty. That longing surely can be
satisfied in some way? Who was putting that longing and searching in
my soul?" (Pg 3).

"What was I waiting for? Nothing else mattered to me. I wanted to see
His Glory. I wanted to see His Miracles. I wanted to see the dead raised.
I wanted to see the devils cast out. I wanted to see the deaf, blind,
and the mute made whole. Did not God say in the last days the lame man
would leap as a hart, the tongue of the dumb would sing, and the eyes
of the blind would be opened? (Isaiah 35:5)... John said in Luke 3:16,
'He shall Baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with FIRE'... It was
fourteen years after I received the Holy Ghost and tongues before I received
the Holy Ghost and power." (Pg 13).

"If God has called you into a full time ministry of healing the sick and
casting out devils He usually gives you time to give yourselves to fasting
and prayer... Then one night to my surprise the Lord appeared to me
and told me to go on a seven day fast, which I was willing to do. After
the fast was over the Lord appeared to me. I heard the angels singing a
song I had never heard. I wrote it down. It was beautiful! It was like
heaven. Then an angel just above my head spoke these words, 'In My
name shall ye cast out devils, ye shall lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover.' As I began to eat I felt something like an electric current
run out at the ends of my fingers and down to the bottom of my feet.
The fire of God was all through my body!" (W.V. Grant Sr, 'Must I Fast
for Forty Days', pg's 20, 36, 37):-

"But on the last day just about break of day, the Holy Spirit began to
speak to me. Mark 16:17-18 - 'These signs shall follow them that believe.
In My name shall you cast out devils, they shall take up serpents,
if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover'... I got up, and walked, and
my feet were burning like they were connected to a high voltage wire. The
Holy Spirit, and Fire was running all through my whole body from my head
to my toes. It seemed like all my strength had been drained out of me,
and the strength of Christ had taken its place. For several years since,
devil's have been cast out, and people healed.

"I had the Holy Spirit for years, but it seemed that now, I was not only
filled, but baptized with zeal, compassion, and with the divine nature of
Jesus, with virtue, and with the fire... If you feel like the Lord has
called you into a special ministry of casting out devils, then remember
this: There are many more things which are just as necessary as fasting.
Fasting within itself will not be sufficient... But when I was called to
fast, it was just as real as being called to preach. I was conscious of
the fast, that it was the Lord's doing and not my own... It takes a longer
fast for one man to be brought to the place where he is yielded to the
Lord enough to receive certain gifts in his life than it does for other
men. It took a certain amount of days for me to fast and to become so
yielded to the Lord; it seemed that all my strength left my body, and the
Lord's strength came into its place! Then I felt the virtue and divine
nature, and the fire of the Holy Ghost dwelling in my body, which gave me
power to meet devils and to cast them out.

"But I still have to be led by the Lord when and how to do it. It is not
myself that doeth the works but the Father that dwelleth in me. God will
not trust you with a ministry if you do not know the leading of the
Spirit. I have talked personally to several evangelists whom God has
called into a supernatural ministry. None of them went on forty day fasts
without any food. Since God has given other people ministries of deliverance
without a long fast you can take courage and believe for a ministry
without fasting forty days..."

EVER-GROWING FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

In Acts 2:1-4, we read of the tremendous initial outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon 120 of Jesus' followers at Pentecost. However, soon
afterward we also read of the gathering of believers in Jerusalem (now
numbering in the thousands), where they prayed for boldness and SIGNS
AND WONDERS, that God might be truly glorified (Acts 4:29-30). And
we read that, "When they had prayed, the place was SHAKEN where they
were assembled together. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (v 31). There had already
been one mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but now they received
another, just when they needed it most, and now more than ever, SIGNS,
MIRACLES AND WONDERS followed them wherever they went.

Jesus said to His disciples: "HEAL THE SICK, CLEANSE THE LEPERS, RAISE
THE DEAD, CAST OUT DEVILS: freely you have received, freely give" (Mt
10:7-8).And He also told them, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread
on serpents and scorpions, and OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY" (Lk
10:19). "He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and GREATER WORKS THAN THESE shall he do." (Jn 14:12).

As the Scriptures and also Revival history clearly show, a man or woman
of God must often spend years in a "wilderness" of obscurity before they
truly come into their ministry. This will often be a place of barrenness,
"WAITING" and preparation where they must overcome and endure - all the
while being molded and trained by God - if they are ever to reach their
godly potential in anointing and empowerment from 'on high'. While others
concentrate on their careers, or busy themselves with building tidy
little ministries along the usual predictable lines (which often need
little of God to succeed), these men and women are called away into the
secret place with God, from whence they will emerge broken but fired with
an unshakeable resolve, humbled but never cast down. There have always
been many called, but few chosen. As the apostle Paul wrote: "This one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I PRESS toward the mark for the PRIZE
of the HIGH CALLING OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS." (Philipp 3:13-14). God
often prepares such vessels for many years, largely hidden from view,
before unleashing them upon the world. And then suddenly they appear,
as if from nowhere, to bring glory to their God, to rout the devil in His
name, and to raise His standard in the earth once again. From such
'mighty men and women of valour', true Revivals are born.

Chapter Four

MARIA WOODWORTH-ETTER.

Born in 1844, Maria Woodworth-Etter lived in Lisbon, Ohio. God called
her to preach at a time when people did not believe that women
should preach. In fact, at this time women were not even allowed to vote.
She saw the death of her little children one by one until she decided to
obey Jesus Christ and go and preach the Gospel. It has been recorded
that she had one of the most powerful ministries and anointings - with
astounding healings, miracles and wonders - that has ever been documented
in the history of the church.

Reports state that she would come into a town after sleeping in a tent,
and within days there would be approximately 20,000 people in her
meetings. At times, God would give people working in the fields in a
fifty-mile radius around her meetings visions of heaven and hell, and
they would fall to the ground under tremendous conviction. It was like a
"blanket" anointing that would come down upon the whole area. It has
been reported that for whole blocks around her meetings, people would
be falling to the ground and repenting.

The following extracts are taken from the book, 'A Diary of Signs and
Times' by Maria Woodworth-Etter:

"At one time I was praying for the salvation of sinners, and the Saviour
appeared on the cross by me, and talked with me; I laid my hand on his
mangled body, and looked up in his smiling face. Another time I was meditating
upon the love of God in giving his only Son to die for sinners,
and of the beautiful home he was preparing for those who love him, and
I seemed to float away, and was set down in the Beautiful City. Oh, the
glorious sight that met my view can never be expressed by mortal
tongue!" (Pg 25).

"In all my sickness and trouble the ministers and people came from the
different churches in the town and had a prayer-meeting in my room.
They prayed in the churches for my recovery. I was willing to die and
leave my little girl and boy, feeling that God would care for them, but
the work God was calling me to do loomed up before me. All these years
God had been preparing me - for I was not willing. I felt like a worm in
his sight. I promised God that if he would restore my health, and prepare
me, and show me the work, I would try to do it; I began to get better
immediately.

"I was very timid, and bound as with chains in a man-fearing spirit. When
I arose to testify I trembled like a leaf, and began to make excuses - O
God, send someone else! Then the Lord in a vision caused me to see the
bottomless pit open in all its horror and woe. There was weeping and
wailing and gnashing of teeth. It was surrounded by a great multitude of
people who seemed unconscious of their danger, and without a moments
warning they would tumble into this awful place. I was above the people
on a narrow plank-walk, which wound up toward heaven; and I was
exhorting and pleading with the people to come upon the plank and
escape that awful place. Several started. There was a beautiful bright
light above me, and I was encouraging them to follow that light and they
would go straight to heaven.

"In all these trials God was preparing me and opening the way for the
great battle against the enemy of souls and now the great desire of my
heart was to work for Jesus. I longed to win a star for the Savior's
crown. Sometimes when the Spirit of God was striving and calling so
plainly, I would yield and say, 'Yes, Lord; I will go.' The glory of God
came upon me like a cloud, and I seemed to be carried away hundreds
of miles and set down in a field of wheat, where the sheaves were falling
all around me. I was filled with zeal and power, and felt as if I could
stand before the whole world and plead with dying sinners. It seemed to
me that I must leave all and go at once. Then Satan would come in like
a flood and say, 'You would look nice preaching, being a gazing-stock
for the people to make sport of. You know you could not do it.' Then
I would think of my weakness and say, 'No; of course I cannot do it.'
Then I would be in darkness and despair. I wanted to run away from
God, or I wished I could die; but when I began to look at the matter in
this way, that God knew all about me, and was able and willing to
qualify me for the work, I asked Him to qualify me for the work. I ASKED
HIM TO QUALIFY ME.

"I want the reader to understand, that at this time I had a good experience,
a pure heart, was full of the love of God, but was not qualified
for God's work. I knew that I was but a worm. God would have to take a
worm to thresh a mountain. Then I asked God to give me the power he
gave the Gallilean fishermen - to anoint me for service. I came like a
child asking for bread. I looked for it... God did not disappoint me.
The power of the Holy ghost came down like a cloud. It was brighter than
the sun. I was covered and, wrapped in it. I was baptized with the Holy
Ghost, and Fire, and power, which has never left me. There was liquid
fire, and the angels were all around me in fire and glory."

"I thought I would go through a course of study and prepare for the
work, thinking the Lord would make my husband and people willing in
some way to let me go out and work. But I could not get my mind fixed
on my study. Everything seemed empty and vacant, and I was restless
and uneasy... The dear Saviour stood by me one night in a vision and
talked face to face with me, and asked what I was doing on earth. I felt
condemned, and said, 'Lord, I am going to work in thy vineyard.' The
Lord said, 'When?' and I answered, 'When I get prepared for the work.'
Then the Lord said to me, 'Don't you know that while you are getting
ready, souls are perishing? Go now, and I will be with you.'

"I told Him that I could not talk to the people; I did not know what to
say, and they would not listen to me. Jesus said, 'You can tell the
people what the Lord has done for your soul; tell of the glory of God
and the love of Jesus. Tell sinners to repent and prepare for death and
the judgment, and I will be with you.' Still I made one excuse after
another, and Jesus would answer, 'Go, and I will be with you'... Then
Jesus said again, 'Go, and I will be with you.' I cried, 'Lord, I will
go. Where shall I go?' And Jesus said, 'Go here, go there, wherever
souls are perishing.' Praise the Lord for his wonderful goodness in
revealing his word and will in such a wonderful way, to such a poor weak
worm of the dust. I saw more in that vision than I could have learned in
years of hard study. Praise His Holy Name. I saw that I must not depend
on anything that I could do, but to look to Him for strength and wisdom."
(Pg. 26-29).

Chapter Five

JAMES DUNN.

James Dunn was another mightily-anointed evangelist from the middle of last
century. It has been reported that he had an anointing of similar power
to the famous William Branham, incredible though this may seem. Dunn had
been desperately seeking more of God and his giftings for some time,
when the Holy Spirit told him to pray to be FILLED WITH JESUS and he
would also receive the gifts. Jesus spoke to him: 'Don't pray for the
gifts. Pray to be more like Me.'

"I pastored the Pentecostal Holiness church there for two years before
this ministry came to me. I had been fasting, and praying, and I had
been reminding God. I believe God wants us to remind Him about the
promises He has made to us, to call his attention to them. So I was
reminding God that when I was employed in a responsible position for
the government, we gave our men the best tools on earth possible to
work with, so that they could do their job right. I told God that if we
as mere human beings could give good tools to our laborers, how much
better tools could He give us to work for the Kingdom of Christ. I
continued praying in that way, and begging God for the gifts. Just
imagine! I would cry: the tears rolling down my face. I would fast until
the preachers in Princeton remarked that my clothes hung on me like a
sack, because I had lost so much weight. They thought that the clothes
had belonged to someone else. I don't know how many pounds I did lose.
I was way down in weight.

"One day I was just in a big way of praying; tears streaming down my
face as I was alone before God. I was asking Him again to give me the
gifts of the Spirit. A voice spoke to me and said, 'Just a minute.' And
I stopped, and a voice spoke again, and said, 'DON'T BEG FOR THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT, PRAY TO BE MORE LIKE ME.' I said, Why Jesus, I had never
thought of it in that manner, what do you mean, pray to be more like you?
And the voice said to me, 'THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT WILL OPERATE IN YOUR
LIFE, IF YOU ARE FULL OF JESUS.' So I began to pray that I would be just
exactly like Jesus.

"It wasn't long after that my wife saw a golden ball floating down the
hall, and it floated into the door, and just as she woke me up, it disappeared.
Shortly after that, one night I was in a state of prayer, my
wife was asleep, it was about 11:00 o'clock. I said, 'God, I am ready to
die if it takes that, to have a better ministry of Jesus Christ! I am not
able to do the job properly!'" (W.V Grant Sr, 'Gifts of the Spirit in the
Home', Pg. 24-25: 'Experience of Rev. James Dunn of Princeton, West
Virginia').

"Then one night while I was lying in bed and my wife was asleep,
something happened. I was meditating on the glories and graciousness of
God, and upon the things I needed from Him, and all at once, the Great
Presence of God began to flood into the room. He came in such a supernatural
way that the room was filled with His Glory. A great feeling of
ecstasy and glory swept over me, and saturated my very body, mind,
and soul. I began to get afraid, because when you get that close to God,
something happens to you. I began to draw back from this Wonderful
Force, and when I did it left. Then I realized I had made a mistake in
drawing back. The next few days, I began to pray as I had never prayed.
In about 3 or 4 nights I was lying in the bed again and I was meditating
and praising the Lord, and asking Him for help and power in my life. All
at once, this great feeling began to come into the room again.

"The very room and atmosphere lighted up. There didn't seem to be any
room for me there any longer, because God so completely filled the
place. As I lay there, I lost all movement of my body other than my eyes.
The Great Force of God moved down across my bed, and overshadowed me,
and I felt the strangest, and most wonderful feeling. From my very
fingertips, it began to move into my hands, and up my arms. I felt
as if I were holding 220 volts in each hand, and it began to surge back
and forth through my body. Then and there in that room, while this was
taking place the old me was leaving, and the new me was coming in.

"From that night on my life was different. Many remarked how completely
my ministry had changed. I had a positive message - a message, that
had fire in it. God talked to me, and told me that if I would preach the
message of deliverance, He would heal the sick. He would give me the
Power to cast out devils. As I listened to this COMMISSION from the
Lord, His power surged through me, and my arm happened to touch my
wife's body, and it almost caused her to jump completely out of the bed.
That night God began doing things. He revealed to me the people's conditions
and diseases through the mighty Spirit of discernment. I found
I was a different individual. God showed me things that I thought were
impossible for a person to see or understand. He would show me the
individual that was suffering, what they had, and He would direct me to
them. After I had prayed for them, they would be healed of every disease.

"Now this particular period is the three different times that angels appeared
unto me to do the Lord's bidding. When I was in a revival, after
I had gone on the evangelistic field, after my call into this particular
type of ministry... I was taken up by the Lord into a high place, and I
looked out across a deep blue, beautiful sea of water. I saw two great
eagles flying toward me in the distance, and as they approached closer, I
marveled at their size. Finally they got close to me and they were flying
so fast, I said, My, I didn't think anything could fly that fast. Why
those aren't eagles, those are angels of God. They got close to me, and
began to dive like two great airplanes, one after the other. They just
folded their wings, and dived down, down, down toward that blue sea. Oh,
it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. They dived into this
sea to catch fish there. A voice spoke to me, and said these were the
angels that would go with me into the world, into all portions of the
world, to gather the fish (or to gather men), that he would make me a
fisher of men, and angels would help me; they would protect me, and keep
the evil one from me; they would help me win the souls of men for Jesus
Christ's Kingdom. Many times in our meetings across the nation people
have seen these angels beside me." ('James Dunn, Sign Gift Ministry' by
W.V. Grant Sr).

James Dunn was one of those men of God (a little different from Smith
Wigglesworth) who believed in the absolute necessity of regular
FASTING for the continued effectiveness of his ministry:
"Fasting keeps the spirit strong and tends to keep the spirit, and give
it control over the body. When a person fasts, and brings their body into
travail before God, their spirit becomes stronger, and in harmony with
God. So I find that in fasting, it gives me greater power to pray with
people, or for people's diseases. It gives me greater power with God to
preach the word, and the revivals are a greater success. I feel that if a
man should ever quit fasting, he is losing out in his ministry, and in
his life for God. 'When you are weak then you are strong.' This is a separated
life. God showed me at the very beginning of this ministry, that
it was a separated life, that I must spend many hours fasting, praying,
meditating, and staying before the Lord." ('James Dunn, Sign Gift
Ministry' by W.V. Grant Sr).

Chapter Six

THOSE THAT HAD THE FULNESS BUT FELL IN THEIR WALKS

It is time now to look at some of the anointed men of God who won
many battles against Satan, only to be defeated by him in the very end.
It is from the lives of these men that we can learn some of the most
important lessons related to this form of ministry.

JOHN ALEXANDER DOWIE.

John Alexander Dowie was born in Scotland in 1847, but spent much of his
early life in Australia. He was a fighter in the true sense, boldly battling
the sin and compromise he found all around him - even as a young
minister in Australia. In later years, particularly after his move to
Chicago in the United States, he became probably the most renowned pioneer
of Divine Healing worldwide, and by the turn of the century had
become known to millions around the world. In his early years of outstanding
success in Chicago, where the power of God was being constantly
demonstrated, and hundreds were being healed of every affliction, it
seemed as if the devil was summoning every demon from hell to attack and
somehow bring him down. He was arrested over 100 times on trumped-up
charges, ceaselessly attacked by the most prominent media men in the
city, and he even suffered street-riots and attempts upon his life.
(-On one notable occasion, when he had been suddenly warned by a voice
from God to leave his office, he narrowly averted being blown to pieces
by a powerful bomb that had been planted there). Eventually, he won
through, with credibility intact (in fact, greatly enhanced despite
all the controversy), and became God's most effective champion of
Divine Healing in America up to that point.

Tragically however, when the early years of constant battle were done,
and a time of relative peace and prosperity settled in upon him, this
daring fighter who had brought healing to America, ended up being deluded
by the devil into dressing in High-Priestly robes and thinking that
he was Elijah the prophet. After this, the end could not be afar off, and
John Alexander Dowie died in comparitive ignominy several years later,
an ill and broken man - a shadow of his former self - having lost his
ministry and literally everything he owned. How one of God's greatest
fighters could come to such a tragic end, is something that should be an
object lesson to us all.

The quotations used here are almost all taken from the book, 'John
Alexander Dowie - A life story of Trials, Tragedies and Triumphs' by
Gordon Lindsay:

As with many men of God who are being prepared for a mighty ministry,
God had used the early years of Dowie's Christian walk as a "toughening-
up" or training period. Dowie's many struggles and pitfalls, plus the
harsh spiritual 'wilderness' and obscurity of Australia, were used to
mold and break him, bringing a great hunger and seeking after God. As
Gordon Lindsay wrote in the Introduction to his book on Dowie, "when any
man is chosen of God to be used in an unusual manner, God permits him to
go through a training period, which sometimes includes trials and tribulations
of the most severe nature." He said that when Dowie first set
foot on American soil at the age of 41, he was almost completely unknown,
but that when the healing anointing that he had received from God was recognized,
and God's perfect timing came, John Alexander Dowie rose to in-
ternational prominence with astonishing abruptness, as one of God's great
leaders of that period. Lindsay wrote of the decline of Dowie that, "it
was at that moment when he began to engage in secular activities, and departed
from the simplicity of his earlier days, that his decline began."

John Alexander Dowie is described as, "a reformer who, fighting against
the greatest of odds, single-handily challenged the apostasy of his time,
and succeeded in bringing to the attention of the Church visible, if not
to its acceptance, the message of the Gospel of healing - a message of
deliverance for the whole man, body, soul and spirit... Against overwhelming
opposition, a hostile press, bitterly opposed clergymen, antagonistic
city officials, unscrupulous lawyers... he fought for and maintained
the right to pray for the sick. Despite the fiercest persecution,
numerous illegal arrests - as many as one hundred in a year - he outwitted
and foiled his enemies, and succeeded in bringing to the attention
of the world, the great truth that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever." (Pg 3-4). And all through this period, numerous
documented, outstanding miracles of healing were taking place under his
ministry.

Please remember how NEW all this was at the time. Today, the things
that Dowie fought for are taken for granted throughout the Christian
world, but in those days there were basically NO SUCH THINGS as
healing ministries or healing evangelists. Dowie was a pioneer, an
instrument of God who paved the way for what was to follow, just
like many Christian Reformers down through the ages.

However, the days of needing to constantly battle gradually drew to an
end, and because of his newfound success and the relative prosperity of
his ministry, Dowie eventually made the tragic mistake of relaxing his
guard. As Gordon Lindsay noted, "Middle age is a dangerous period and not
a few succumb to the temptation at that time of life to spiritually
relax (something quite different to physical relaxation). The great difference
between Dr. Dowie and others was that he had become a world
leader whose actions were watched by the eyes of multitudes." (Pg 195).

"In the days of adversity, John Alexander Dowie learned to lean heavily
upon God. When every other resource failed him, he abandoned his life
to the mercy and graciousness of God. But AFTER SUCCESS HAD COME,
when thousands of people ALMOST IDOLIZED HIM, he apparently did not
feel so strongly that same need. He allowed himself to become so very
busy... A fateful mistake! How many sorrows would John Alexander
Dowie have saved himself had he taken the time to get the mind of God
on decisions which were so all important? How many fatal mistakes men
of God have made because THEY DID NOT PAUSE TO TAKE COUNSEL WITH
THE LORD WHEN THEY HAD SOME VITAL DECISION TO MAKE?" (Pg 194).

As Paul Billheimer wrote, "The sands of time are strewn with the wrecks
of the broken lives of many, who were once mightily used of God, but
who suffered shipwreck upon the rocks of SPIRITUAL PRIDE."

In his early days in Chicago, certain people had approached Dowie with
what they claimed as a "direct revelation from God" that Dowie was, in
fact, 'Elijah the Restorer', the great end-times prophet. For their
trouble, Dowie immediately rebuked them soundly and dismissed them from
his presence, warning them never to mention such things to him again.
However, the suggestion that had been planted that day kept ringing in
his ears. "According to his own testimony, he tried to rid himself of it,
but could not. A voice seemed to say, 'Elijah must come, and who but
you is doing the work of Elijah?' Time passed. Then one day there came
flooding into his consciousness a strange and intense conviction that he
was indeed Elijah - the one spoken of by the prophets who was to come
and restore all things. The impression came with such overwhelming
power, that his entire personality became absorbed with it." (Pg 188).
In June 1901, Dowie took the fateful step of publicly announcing that he
was indeed Elijah the Restorer. (A claim which was immediately challenged
and denounced by religious leaders all over the world).

By this time, Dowie was also heavily involved with land development.
Having purchased over 6000 acres of land near Chicago, construction
was already underway on what would become 'Zion City', an entire
large town to be occupied by Dowie's followers, and to be run according
to "Christian principles". Sadly, no-one seemed to remember that the
New Testament never advocates separating ourselves from the world in this
way, but rather of living IN the world, but not being OF it. Initially,
Zion City was a resounding success, both financially and in every other
respect. But eventually it was to lead Dowie to financial ruin, and there
can be no doubt that it contibuted greatly to his overall decline. One of
his great dreams was to build 'Zion Cities' all over the world - no doubt
part of his supposed mission of the "Restoration of all things" - from
which he and his followers would begin to exercise rulership in the
earth. What fateful days these were.

For many years John's wife had been content, along with John, to live
almost in poverty, trusting God. However, it has been reported that "when
prosperity came to the Dowie family, she lost her simplicity of life:
she bought gowns in Paris and indulged in extravagances..." (Pg 200).
All of this would have been unthinkable to them only a few years earlier.
"But with the prosperity that came to him in America, eventually the simplicity
of his life was altered. He came to the conclusion, and apparently
Mrs. Dowie abetted his proposals, that it would be to his advantage to
build a costly executive mansion in which he could entertain important
personages. This large edifice when finished was elaborately appointed
with expensive furnishings." (Pg 201-202).

In the end, it seemed almost as though the very things that Dowie and his
wife had stood against all their lives, were the very strategies that
Satan now used against them, to destroy them. And to help the tragedy
along,- "at the crucial time of Dr. Dowie's life when he needed help so
desperately, it does not appear that his wife was a spiritual reservoir
of strength that he could fall back on." (Pg 201). At times, especially
during this latter period, there were those who tried to warn him of the
dangers of what he was doing. But he refused to listen. Even when his
daughter died tragically as a result of a fire in 1902, he hardly paused
to reflect on his headlong forward momentum.

The last days of John Dowie were not particularly good. He had fought a
great fight for many years in his early period, but he was defeated in
the latter part of his life. As is so often the case with great Revivals
or great men of God who fall from the path, the harm that they can do and
the ridicule that they can bring upon the Gospel in the end, can almost
undo much of the good that originally came from them. How delighted the
devil must have been, not only to deceive and sideline this great man of
God, but also to use him to bring ridicule upon the very truths that he
had originally proclaimed so effectively. God could not afford to have
John Alexander Dowie continuing in this state for much longer. He had
to take him home. Dowie died still believing he was Elijah, an ill and
broken man, crippled in a wheel chair. His ministry was gone, Zion City
was almost bankrupt, and he had lost everything that he once thought of
as his own. "How have the mighty fallen!" He died on March 9, 1907.

THE ENIGMA OF WILLIAM BRANHAM

William Branham was another evangelist mid-way through last century who was mightily
used of God for a number of years. In fact, there can be little doubt
that he was endued with power to a degree that has rarely been seen since
the days of the apostles. And there is still a great deal of controversy
surrounding his life, death and teachings. To some of his most ardent
followers (who are still around today), he seemed to assume almost semi-
divine status,- a damaging and tragic fallacy that has frightened many
sound Christians away from studying his life. On the other hand, even in
his heyday some believers were sceptical and suspicious of the tremendous
power and unusual signs and miracles that accompanied his ministry.
There can be little doubt that Branham went astray in his ministry in the
latter part of his life. (The fact that God took him home early, and that
the cause of death was a car-crash in which his body became horribly
tangled in the wreck, though he lingered on for a few more days - bears
this out). However, it is my belief, and the belief of many who have
studied his life, that in his early years he was one of the most anointed
men of God that has ever lived in modern times.

As Gordon Lindsay wrote in his 1952 biography of Branham's early life and
ministry: "The story of the life of William Branham is so out of this
world and beyond the ordinary that were there not available a host of
infallible proofs which document and attest its authenticity, one might
well be excused for considering it far-fetched and incredible." (G. Lindsay,
'William Branham - A man sent from God', pg 9). Even his birth and
childhood had unusual aspects to them. Born in 1909 in Kentucky, his family
soon shifted to the state of Indiana, where they eventually settled
not far from Jeffersonville. Branham's family were the "poorest of the
poor". When he was seven years old, he experienced the first of many
godly visitations: "It seemed to be a very still afternoon. I stepped
back from the tree and noticed that in a certain place about the size of
a barrel, the wind seemed to be blowing through the tree leaves. Then
there came a voice saying: 'Never drink, smoke, or defile your body in
any way, for I have a work for you to do when you get older.'" (Pg 30).

Branham obeyed these strictures, but he had still not been truly
converted. When he was about twenty years of age, the death of his
brother Edward caused him to again turn his thoughts toward God's call
upon his life. However, he carried on the way he was going (essentially
running away from God) for a couple of years. Finally, he ended up seriously
ill - at death's door, in hospital. And suddenly God visited him
again: "Closer the wind came, louder and louder... I heard that same
voice that said, 'Never drink or smoke.' And the leaves I heard were
the same that blew in that tree that day. But this time the voice said,
'I called you and you would not go.' The words were repeated the third
time. Then I said, 'Lord, if that is you, let me go back again to earth
and I will preach your gospel from the housetops and street corners.
I'll tell everyone about it!'... When this vision had passed, I found
that I felt better." (Pg 40-41).

However, Branham was not completely healed at this time. But he was
now filled with a great hunger after God. "I started out to seek and find
God. I went from church to church trying to find some place where there
was an old-fashioned altar call. The sad part was I could find none...
One night I became so hungry for God and a real experience that I went
out to the old shed back of the house and tried to pray... All at once
there came a light in the shed and it formed a cross, and the voice from
the cross spoke to me in a language I could not understand... as I prayed
it appeared again. Then it seemed to me that there had been a
thousand pounds lifted from my soul...

"I knew then that if God wanted me to preach he would heal me, so I
went to a church that believed in anointing with oil, and I was healed
instantly. I saw then that the disciples had something that most of the
ministers do not have today. The disciples were baptized with the Holy
Ghost and so could heal the sick and do mighty miracles in His name.
So I began to pray for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. One day about
six months later God gave me the desire of my heart. He spoke to me
in a great light telling me to preach and pray for the sick and He would
heal them regardless of what disease they had. I then started preaching
and doing what He told me to do." (Pg 41-42). Branham began tent
meetings in his home town of Jeffersonville, and for a 24-year-old who
was just starting out, these were astonishingly successful, with up to
3000 people being attracted to the meetings at one time, and scores
of conversions.

Afterwards when Branham was baptizing 130 converts in the Ohio River,
a heavenly light, like a blazing star, appeared above him just as he
was about to baptize the seventeenth person. This was witnessed by the
vast 4000-strong congregation that stood on the banks of the river looking
on. Some of them ran for fear, while others shouted or fainted. A
report of this unusual event appeared in the local newspaper shortly
afterwards. It has also been reported that a voice spoke from within the
light, saying, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming
of the Lord, so you are sent to forerun His second coming..." What is
certain is that a heavenly light was seen, and it seems likely also that
something along these lines was spoken over him.

It was in this same year of 1933 that a number of significant visions
were given to William Branham. In June 1933 he was given a series of
seven visions relating to world events that lay immediately ahead (and
he told his congregation of these visions at the time). In the first of
these he saw the Italian dictator Mussolini successfully invading
Ethiopia, but eventually coming to a terrible demise - murdered and spat
upon by his own people. In the second he saw America being drawn into a
world war against Germany, which would be headed up by an Austrian. The
war would overthrow this leader, and he would come to a mysterious end.
The third vision showed the three 'isms' in the world - Fascism, Nazism
and Communism, and that the first two would come to nothing, but that
Communism would flourish. He was told, "Watch Russia. She will become
a great world power." In the fourth vision he was shown some of
the tremendous advances in Science that would come after the Second
World War.

The fifth vision showed the rapid moral decay in the world, relating
especially to women. He was shown this decline from the beginning of
the feminist "liberation" movement of the late 19th century, and the
gradual gaining of worldly power by women, to the eventual election of
a 'boy president' (probably Kennedy - known to have been elected because
of the women's vote) and after this the progressive decline in the
way women dressed - deliberately exposing their bodies more and more
in an ever-increasing display of brazen sensuality. With true womanhood
so little valued, a terrible decay of all flesh came upon the earth, and
every form of perversion arose, just as is prophesied for the Last Days.

In the sixth vision there arose in the United States a beautiful woman,
clothed in splendour and royal robes - a woman given great power, and
beautiful - yet cruel, cunning and deceitful. She dominated the land with
her authority. Branham felt that she represented either an actual person,
or else a particular organization (perhaps the Catholic church?) However,
surely there is also the possibility that she represents a great "Jezebelic"
spirit that utterly dominates the landscape? In the seventh and
final vision, he witnessed a great explosion that rent the entire land
and left America a smouldering, chaotic ruin, with no humanity in sight.
This final vision then faded away. (This last one reminds me of another
Branham vision/prophecy, which he referred to often in later years, that
showed that the day would come when the entire state of California west
of the San Andreas Fault, would be wiped out and sent into the Pacific
Ocean by a massive earthquake).

The amazing thing about this series of seven visions is that they were
given at a time (June 1933) when Branham had no way at all of coming
to these conclusions through mere guesswork. In 1933 Germany was
by no means ready for war, Russia was by no means a dominant world
power, and Communism was a relatively minor force in the world. Some of
the details given in the visions were just too extraordinary to pass
off as mere coincidence. (See 'The Acts of the Prophet' by Pearry Green,
pg 48-51, for a fuller description). Also, the fact is that these visions
were given to an uneducated, simple man in the back-blocks of Indiana, a
man who had little understanding at all of political complexities. And
the fact that at least five of these visions have now been precisely
fulfilled, means that we should surely take the others seriously also.

After the baptisms, a church was built for Branham to pastor in Jeffersonville.
The next few years were a fruitful time in his life and ministry,
during which he married a lovely Christian wife and they had two
children. However, several years later Branham came to a crossroads and
made a serious error of judgement that was to have serious repurcussions
for his family and ministry. After attending a Pentecostal convention
for the first time (up until then he had been an independent Baptist),
Branham was invited by these Pentecostals to become a travelling evangelist
for them, and he felt that this was definitely a call from God.
However, he allowed himself to be persuaded by friends that the Pentecostals
were "trash" (they were known as 'holy rollers' at the time -
the lowest of the low), and he drew back from joining with them.

"It was at this time that the anointing of God which had come upon me
left me. It never really returned until five years later... Everything
went wrong. With my church going down, I didn't know what to do. Then
began the dark period of my life when the Ohio River flood that took so
many lives, came, and was responsible for the death of two of those that
were the dearest to me in all the world." (G. Lindsay, 'William Branham
- A man sent from God', pg 51). The great Ohio River flood of 1937
claimed the lives of Branham's wife and baby daughter, and Branham
was left heartbroken, with only his infant son left. This was only eight
months after he had drawn back from obeying God and joining with the
Pentecostals, and he himself acknowledged the tragic connection.

For a number of years after this, Branham continued to preach and also
work at various jobs. He remarried, and when a new visitation of the
angel of God came in 1946, he was working as an Indiana state game
warden. This was to be the beginning of his international miracle ministry:
"I must tell you of the angel and the coming of the Gift. I shall
never forget the time, May 7, 1946, a very beautiful season of the year
in Indiana, where I was still working as a game warden. I had come
home for lunch... and while walking around the house under a maple
tree, it seemed that the whole top of the tree let loose. It seemed that
something came down through that tree like a great rushing wind... My
wife came from the house frightened, and asked me what was wrong. Trying
to get hold of myself, I sat down and told her that after all these
twenty odd years of being conscious of this strange feeling, the time had
come when I had to find out what it was all about. The crisis had come!

"That afternoon I went away to a secret place to pray and read the Bible.
I became deep in prayer; it seemed that my whole soul would tear from me.
I cried before God...I laid my face to the ground...I looked up to God
and cried, 'If you will forgive me for the way that I have done, I'll try
to do better... I'm sorry that I've been so neglectful all these years in
doing the work you wanted me to do...Will you speak to me someway, God?
If you don't help me, I can't go on'... Then along in the night, about
the eleventh hour, I had quit praying and was sitting up when I noticed a
light flickering in the room... the light was spreading out on the floor,
becoming wider... as I looked up, there hung that great star. However, it
did not have five points like a star, but looked more like a ball of fire
or light shining down upon the floor. Just then I heard someone walking
across the floor...

"Now, coming through the light, I saw the feet of a man coming toward
me, as naturally as you would walk to me. He appeared to be a man who,
in human weight, would weigh about two hundred pounds, clothed in a
white robe. He had a smooth face, no beard, dark hair down to his
shoulders, of rather dark-complexion, with a very pleasant countenance,
and coming closer, his eyes caught with mine. Seeing how fearful I was,
he began to speak. 'Fear not. I am sent from the Presence of Almighty
God to tell you that your peculiar life and your misunderstood ways have
been to indicate that God has sent you to take a gift of divine healing
to the peoples of the world. IF YOU WILL BE SINCERE, AND CAN GET THE
PEOPLE TO BELIEVE YOU, NOTHING SHALL STAND BEFORE YOUR PRAYER, NOT EVEN
CANCER.'" (Pg 76-77).

The angel told Branham that he would now have two special signs or
gifts operating in his life, given to him by God. The first would enable
him to detect or discern illnesses in people - a visible violent reaction
in his left hand which would make it red and swollen whenever it came
into contact with sickness. The second sign would be a gift that would
enable him to discern the thoughts and deeds in the past life of the individual
- specific sins that needed to be repented of, etc. It was often
found that as Branham challenged people over such specific sins, and they
confessed them to God, they would regularly be healed of whatever ailed
them even before he had a chance to lay hands on them.

This angelic visitation marked the beginning of Branham's incredible
international miracle ministry, and also led directly to the great American
Healing Revival of 1947 through 1955, in which many well-known ministries
were raised up, and thousands upon thousands of people were
saved and healed. As Branham himself said, "The great things which
have taken place during these months are too innumerable to ever be
recorded, but God has confirmed the angel's words time after time.
Deaf, dumb, blind, all manners of diseases have been healed, and thousands
of testimonies are on record to date. I do not have any power of
my own to do this... God always has something or someone to work
through, and I am only an instrument used by Him." (Pg 78).

Right to the end of his life, William Branham was renowned for his transparency,
his simplicity and his genuine humility. No doubt this was due
in part to his early life of hardship, brokenness and poverty - a great
advantage when it came to his eventual ministry. I have read several of
his early sermons, and they often appeared to be little more than personal
testimonies accompanied by a simple (yet effective) gospel message.
There was little sign of the somewhat strange, divisive and controversial
teachings of his latter years. After all, the angel had told him that
part of his commission was to help UNIFY Christians of differing backgrounds.
Speaking of Branham's "outstandingly humble spirit", one observer
wrote: "There is nothing boisterous or arrogant about him. He is a
meek and humble man... He is a man loved by all. No-one begrudges him any
of his success or is envious of his great popularity." (David Harrell Jr,
'ALL Things are Possible', pg 39).

Over the following months and years, Branham travelled widely in the
USA, and also to Europe and South Africa, etc. Thousands came from
far and wide to hear him preach and to witness the many outstanding
healings, miracles and 'words of knowledge' that accompanied his
ministry. Often, he would call out the name, city of origin and background
information of people in the audience whom he had never met,
who had come to hear his preaching or to be healed. Of all the thousands
of such 'words of knowledge' that he gave, none was ever known
to be wrong or inaccurate. His gift was reportedly "exactly 100%". The
deaf were healed, the blind received their sight, and even the dead were
raised. There were also a number of meetings where Branham was photographed
with bright 'haloes' or strange lights around him. It became
standard for Branham to have the angel of God standing beside him as
he ministered, and he would often wait for the angel to arrive before he
began. It was also commonplace for Branham to see specific miracles
enacted before his eyes in vision form several days before they actually
occurred, so that when he found himself in the precise circumstance pictured
in the vision, he would know exactly what to do. Astounding! And
everywhere he went, God was glorified in the most profound way.

There can be no doubt that Branham was the initial pioneer and the key
leader of the great Healing Revival of 1947 through 1955. During this
Revival, literally dozens of healing ministries were raised up all over
America, some well-known and others less prominent, but all of them
inspired by the example of Branham and others. Thousands were saved
and healed, not just in America, but in many other nations also. And the
mighty 1954 Argentina Revival under Tommy Hicks (with meetings of
up to 400,000 people) also had strong links with this Revival. Even
amongst the better-known evangelists who came into prominence at that
time (such as Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborne, A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, etc),
William Branham was acknowledged as something special - something
extraordinary. "The younger deliverance evangelists viewed him as a
man set apart, like Moses. 'He was number one,' said Richard Hall, 'of
the common run of evangelists that we have now, put twenty of them at
one end and William Branham on the other; he would outweigh them
all.'" (Winkie Pratney, 'Revival', pg 220-221).

Later in the 1950's, when a number of healing evangelists were drifting
into showmanship, hype, 'prosperity' doctrines and begging for money,
Branham would have none of it. He was unchanged in his attitude toward
these kinds of excesses right to the very end. One observer wrote
of him in 1959: "On my last visit I mentioned how 'car conscious' American
preachers are, almost judging a man's success by the car he drives.
At this particular conference, where Brother Branham was the principal
speaker, they all came up in their nice cars, the picture of elegance,
but Brother Branham drove up in a truck. He doesn't seem to worry about
these things..." (D. Harrell Jr, 'ALL Things are Possible', pg 162).

However, there were crucial weaknesses in the practices and ministry of
William Branham, which tragically began to manifest themselves in the
mid-1950's. In 1955, largely through his own carelessness and lack of
good management, Branham fell into financial difficulty. He had always
been nonchalant, almost naive, toward all business matters. "He sometimes
missed scheduled meetings and was totally unconcerned about
business details. Some of his business associates came to feel that he
was culpably irresponsible. At any rate, Branham came to write: 'For
nine years, the Lord met every need without my having to pull for money.
Then, in 1955, in each of three of my greatest meetings, the income fell
far short of expenses and others stepped in to make up large deficits'...
Branham's difficulties became more complicated in 1956 when the Internal
Revenue Service filed a tax evasion suit against him... The unsophistic-
ated Branham, apparently little interested in personal wealth, had made
no systematic effort to account for the thousands of dollars that flowed
through his ministry." (Ibid, pg 39-40). For the remainder of his life,
Branham worked under the burden of a $40,000.00 debt to the IRS. (Which
was an enormous amount of money in those days).

It is obvious that God was little able to financially bless Branham's
ministry any longer, due to the careless and dubious state of his financial
management. This had clearly become a "legal gateway" through which
the devil could now disrupt and tie-down Branham's ministry. And one
of the most devastating results of this was that when most of the other
prominent healing evangelists were called into large, mobile tent ministries
(which God used very effectively at that time), Branham was unable
to make this jump, due seemingly to the parlous state of his finances.
Thus, his ministry immediately began to lose momentum, and it seemed
that he was no longer on the 'cutting edge' of what God was doing.

By 1958, William Branham (along with many of the other healing evangelists)
was deeply re-assessing his ministry. It was clear that the great
Healing Revival was now well and truly over, and there can be little
doubt that the decline in Branham's own ministry had contributed to
this. You can never afford to lose such a leader in any move of God, as
history clearly shows. It was after this that Branham began to gradually
withdraw into his own little circle, where he had an adoring and loyal
following. (Essentially this circle was made up of "Oneness" or 'Jesus-
Only' Pentecostals). And instead of his previous unwillingness to speak
about contentious or divisive 'minor' issues, he now gradually began to
emphasize such things more and more in his preaching. Slowly, these
teachings became ever-more alarming and extreme.

As early as 1957, Branham had received a dream in which he was ministering
in a 'white disk' above a pyramid. A voice from heaven proclaimed
that no other man could stand in the disk "unless he die or be killed",
and that Branham was "the only one who can and will stand there." Branham
apparently considered this dream to be of 'spiritual significance'.
(Ibid, pg 41). By the 1960's, he had clearly become convinced that he
was the end-times "Elijah" and the true "Messenger of the Covenant".
And the adoring followers in his tight little circle were certainly not
going to contradict him. A number of writers believe that it was when
Branham took a 'teaching' ministry upon himself that he fell into error.
It is clear that he had been anointed and commissioned by God to have a
prophetic / evangelistic ministry, but never one of teaching. And as
soon as he got into this area of teaching doctrine, he began to trespass
into realms to which God had never called him, thus opening himself up
to ever-increasing deception. It has been reported that towards the end,
some of his teachings almost bordered on the occult. However, the original
sign-giftings that God had given him never left him, right up until
the time of his death in 1965.

There were a number of men who tried to warn Branham, and to bring
him back into some form of balance, including his respected colleague
and old friend, Gordon Lindsay. But Branham would not listen: "Brother
Lindsay said, 'I begged him not to teach. I said, "... Leave the Bible
teaching to the teachers. Just go ahead and preach and exercise the
word of knowledge and gifts of healing as the Spirit wills, and be a
blessing to the Body of Christ.''' This prophet said to Brother Lindsay,
'I know I'm not a teacher, but I want to teach. And I'm going to teach!'

"It's dangerous to intrude into a ministry office to which you are not
called. In the Old Testament, if people intruded in to a holy place that
was reserved for those who held certain offices, they instantly fell
dead. Under grace, people in disobedience can last for a while, but sooner
or later, those who intrude into ministry offices to which they are
not called will be judged. It is dangerous to intrude into another man's
office." (K. Hagin, 'He Gave Gifts unto Men', pg 164-170).

A full TWO YEARS before Branham died, Kenneth Hagin, who was renowned
for his accurate prophetic ministry at that time, was given a prophecy
about Branham which he took to Gordon Lindsay. The prophecy read: "'At
the end of 1965, He who now stands in the forefront of the healing
ministry as a prophet will be taken out of the way. He'll make a false
step and Satan shall destroy his life, but his spirit will be saved,
and his works will follow him. Ere 1966 shall come, he shall be gone.'

"I took that prophecy to brother Lindsay, because it's scriptural to
have other spiritual men judge prophecy. I never made it public. Prophets
make a mistake by publicly broadcasting some of these things." God
later told Hagin: "I had to permit him to be removed, because of the
damage he was causing in the body of Christ..."

"... Then brother Lindsay related something else to me that had happened
regarding this same prophet. He said to me, 'This past year, I was
praying with my wife and sister Schrader about the work of the ministry.
(Sister Schrader was a prophetess who has since gone on to be with the
Lord.) We were praying about different projects in our ministry. Right
in the middle of the prayer, Sister Schrader blurted out, 'Go warn
Brother [Branham]... he's going to die.' Brother Lindsay said, 'I was
busy, and I let that get by me, and I didn't go warn him like I was supposed
to. Then later, my wife and I and Sister Schrader were again praying
about ministry projects. Again Sister Schrader blurted out right in
the middle of prayer, 'Go warn Brother [Branham]... he's going to die.
He's walking in the way of Dowie.' After his morning meeting, Brother
Lindsay said, 'I talked to him as the Lord had instructed me, but I saw
that he wouldn't listen...' (K. Hagin, 'He Gave Gifts unto Men', pg
164-170). Please remember that Dowie had also got into error, proclaiming
that he was the end-times "Elijah".

Gordon Lindsay's wife also confirmed the account given by Kenneth
Hagin: "One day Kenneth Hagin came into our offices. He handed
Gordon a piece of paper on which was written a prophecy he said the
Lord had given him. The prophecy stated that the leader of the deliverance
movement was soon to be taken in death, because he was getting
into error and the Lord was having to remove him from the scene for
that reason. Gordon took the prophecy and placed it in his desk. After
Brother Hagin left I asked, 'What do you think about this? Is this Branham?'
Gordon answered gravely, 'Yes, it is Branham. He is getting into
error. He thinks he is Elijah. He thinks he is the messenger of the covenant.
The sad thing is that unscrupulous men around him are putting
words into his mouth, and due to his limited background he is taking
them up.'" (Mrs Gordon Lindsay, 'My Diary Secrets', Sixth Edition, pg
152).

Two years later, when driving to Tucson, Arizona, William Branham
was involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. His wife was
badly injured in the smash, and Branham's body was horribly tangled in
the wreck. He lingered on for a few days in hospital, though his head became
terribly swollen and a tube was placed in his throat to assist his
breathing. William Branham died on Christmas Eve, 1965, just before the
turn of the year, exactly as the prophecy had predicted. Once more - "How
have the mighty fallen". Satan had again succeeded in 'taking out' one of
God's great servants. And there can be little doubt that God's full purposes
for Branham's life and ministry remained at least partially unfulfilled.
There was talk amongst a few of Branham's followers that he might
rise from the dead after several days, but it is clear that only a relatively
small number believed this. (Such Branham-followers can still be
found around the world today, some of whom adore him with a fervour
bordering almost on idolatry - a sad and tragic epitaph to a once-mighty
man of God).

Chapter Seven

THE LESSONS WE MUST LEARN

Some people believe that the coming move of God will be so powerful and
so awesome that it will be almost impossible for the ministries involved
in it to fall into error or into sin. I simply cannot go along with this.
History clearly demonstrates that the greater the power, the greater
the potential for subtle pride and error to enter in. This is why God has
taken so long in preparing His future (now hidden) ministries for the
coming move. Please remember that Satan himself was once one of the
most splendid and powerful creatures in all of Heaven - an 'anointed
Cherubim' of the highest order, who walked in the very presence of
God. The Creator Himself said of him: "You were the ANOINTED CHERUB
who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were PERFECT
in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found
in you" (Ez 28:14-15). "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son
of the morning!" (Is 14:12). If such a creature as this - walking in the
very presence of God - can fall from grace, then so can we, even at the
height of a powerful God-given ministry.

It is important also to realize the strength and the cunning of our adversary.
The devil has had literally thousands of years to study mankind,
and to learn how to manipulate human beings in the most effective way.
He has seen Revivals come and Revivals go. He has caused great men of
God to fall, and others to stumble or to not fulfill their potential. He
is a past master at the arts of spiritual war, and he plays HARD, with no
conscience and no mercy. He has had thousands of years to perfect his
techniques for causing good men to fall, of setting snares that sometimes
take months and years to bear fruit, but eventually lure men to the demise
of their lives or their ministries. He has seen it all. And yet, by
the power of God it is still possible to beat him, and to beat him well.
But we must not be ignorant of his wiles or devices to trap us. And we
must learn well the lessons that history has to teach us.

SPIRITUAL PRIDE

Spiritual pride is the major, but often very subtle underlying root of
much deception, and the fall of many once-promising ministries. A friend
from America who has studied this subject recently told me that over the
past 21 years, he has personally known of at least a dozen anointed men
of God who have lost their anointings and ministries. He says that a number
have even ended up dead or in prison. "To whom much is given, much is
expected." To repeat Paul Billheimer's words: "THE SANDS OF TIME ARE
STREWN WITH THE WRECKS OF THE BROKEN LIVES OF MANY, WHO WERE ONCE MIGHTILY
USED OF GOD, BUT WHO SUFFERED SHIPWRECK UPON THE ROCKS OF SPIRITUAL
PRIDE." As the Scriptures declare, "PRIDE goeth before the downfall"
(Prov 16:18). If Satan cannot destroy us from without, then he will
destroy us from within.

It is usually through our THOUGHTS - through our MIND - that such attacks
come, with temptations to pride disguised as our own thoughts
and feelings, etc. The devil will happily take a long-term approach with
such attacks, slowly building on what he has been feeding into our mind
until he can sway us into making bad decisions and judgements - blinded
by subtle pride in that one crucial area. His object is to get us to 'BELIEVE
THE LIE', and in that process this prideful deception travels from
our mind down into our heart, where it is much harder to dislodge. Like
a seed, it will then grow, and begin to manifest itself in our lives,
until eventually, if it has not been dealt with, God may be forced to
remove us from the ministry He has called us into. We are told in the
Bible that we are to have the "mind of Christ", and that we are to bring
"into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:5).

We are to be full of His Spirit, so that we may have A MIND CONTROLLED,
a MIND DIRECTED, and a MIND FIXED ON GOD. I have found personally that
such 'roots' or strongholds of pride, or anything else in our lives,
can be dealt with very effectively by RENOUNCING them, from the very
depths of our heart and soul, in Jesus' name, and casting them away from
ourselves as hated things. (This applies to bad habits and any other
form of 'stronghold' also). "For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds"
(2 Cor 10:4). We do not have to let the devil dominate any area of our
lives in this way.

Obviously, those who are involved in powerful ministries are particularly
susceptible to pride entering in, because of the amazing things that
they see happening every day in their ministries, and the temptation to
begin taking some of the glory for themselves, or to start to think that
they are something 'special' - forgetting that every gift they have is
from God. Such pride can be incredibly subtle, and the devil delights in
placing such ministries under as much 'pressure' of this kind as he possibly
can. However, it is important to remember that God will not allow us
to be tempted more than we can bear. (1 Cor 10:13).

It is significant to note that William Branham was apparently still a
truly humble man in many ways right up until the time of his death, and
yet the devil managed to introduce subtle pride into his mind and heart
in a couple of crucial areas. He presumed to become a teacher when this
was obviously not his calling, and he eventually came to believe inflated
"Elijah"-type revelations about himself and his 'special' position, proclaiming
these to his followers. As the apostle Paul wrote, we are not
to think of ourselves "more highly than we ought to think" (Rom 12:3).
Speaking of the fall of Lucifer, God said, "Your heart was lifted up
because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of
your splendour." (Ez 28:17).

It is also important to remember that it is often when we have won our
greatest victories in God, that we are most susceptible to attacks from
the enemy. As Paul wrote, "let anyone who thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall." (1 Cor 10:12). We see this particularly in the life
of John Alexander Dowie. It was when he had won through into a period
of comparitive success and prosperity in his ministry that he apparently
relaxed his guard, and became deceived into "BELIEVING THE LIE" that
the devil was trying to sell him.

It is clear from the Scriptures that in the Last Days, there ARE to be
ministries who will go forth in the 'spirit and power of Elijah'. However,
as Gordon Lindsay wrote in his biography of Dowie, "HAD HE BEEN
THE VERY ELIJAH, WHAT AN UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE WAS MADE, IN PROCLAIMING
HIMSELF AS SUCH! John the Baptist was satisfied in declaring himself 'a
voice crying in the wilderness'. When they asked John if he were Elijah,
he said he was not. Yet Christ later said that he was! (Matt. 11:14)
Jesus commended the humility of John who said, 'He must increase, but
I must decrease', and declared that none born of women was greater than
he." (G. Lindsay, 'John Alexander Dowie', pg 190). It is often when such
DECLARATIONS of being a 'last-days apostle' or an Elijah are made, that
things begin to go off the rails. The devil's first priority is to get us
to 'BELIEVE A LIE' (usually some inflated or prideful view of ourselves,
or some excuse why a certain sin is 'OK for me') or even to publicly declare
an EXAGGERATED TRUTH, and then to ACT ON IT. After this, as the
deception grows and our blindness in that area deepens, surely only
disaster can result.

However, one of the alarming things about such deception is that THE
GIFTS, THE POWER AND THE CALLING OF GOD already operating in one's
ministry up to that point will usually continue to operate just as
powerfully, often right until death. "For the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance" (Rom 11:29). In other words, God will usually not
take away such giftings, even if a ministry falls into deception. And so,
they will continue to exercise such power, often thinking that "all is
well" and ignoring all warnings, until it is too late. A fatal, but oh-
so-common mistake. And history is littered with with the shattered
remains of such ministries, who refused to heed God's writing on the
wall until it was too late.

FINANCES

You will notice that with both Dowie and Branham, errors of judgement in
the financial area certainly helped to precipitate their downfall. With
Dowie, his problem was becoming too caught up in financial dealings and
the 'cares of this world' (almost certainly as a result of his "Elijah
the Restorer" revelation). And there can be no doubt today, that God
will deal harshly with anyone who uses their anointing and giftings as
a means to wealth and luxury living. As G.H. Montgomery wrote of the
decline of the Healing Revival, and of a number of evangelists at that
time: "Men who preach the meek and lowly Nazarene to a lost and dying
world, and yet live in palatial homes built on money contributed by
God's poor people, cannot call themselves followers of Jesus."

With Branham, it was the opposite problem, as he obviously couldn't
care less about his finances, and perhaps presumed that "God will take
care of it - I don't need to arrange or give heed to anything". Again, a
fatal form of presumption. I have no doubt that God quietly warned
Branham many times about his finances and lack of accounting or basic
organization, but in the end it took a disaster to make him sit up and
take notice - and by then it was too late, and his ministry was deeply
mired in a financial pit from which it never truly recovered.

I have met a number of men and women of God in recent years who are also
"anti-organization" to the point where if they were in a Revival ministry,
they could very easily suffer the same financial fate as that of
Branham. Their theory is that essentially, "God will do it all", and many
of them see any form of organization almost as a sin. But my question is
this: If God doesn't want humans involved in such ministry-related organization,
then why did he invent the giftings of 'HELPERS' and "ADMINISTRATORS"?
(1 Cor 12:28, RSV. The King James refers to these as 'helps' and
"governments", and they are found in every translation in the list of
spiritual giftings for the church). It is also important to remember that
the Early Church appointed seven men to administrate the funds collected
by the apostles for use amongst the poor, etc. (Acts 6:1-7).

Obviously, such organization does not have to be too similar to today's
churches, but it does need to be streamlined, efficient, and above all -
transparently honest, open and above-board. The last thing we need is
shifty financial dealings bringing reproach upon God's people. The early
Salvation Army, which was a true Revival movement for at least it's
first 40 years, had just such an operation. Obviously, the whole move-
ment was modelled on a mobilized army, with a central command post in
London (from whence General William Booth ruled with a rod of iron!),
and supply lines reaching out into every corner of the world. Like the
early church, these people cared for the poor, as well as for God's ministries,
and thousands of people were clothed, fed and housed (as well
as thousands more saved) right around the world. The early Salvation
Army was one of the most long-lived anointed Revival movements that the
church has ever seen, and there can be no doubt that this was greatly
helped by the effectiveness and godliness of their organization. Revival
literally followed them wherever they went. It is very clear then, from
this and other examples, that ORGANIZATION DOES NOT HAVE TO BE OUR ENEMY.
In fact, under God, it can become one of our most helpful friends.

MARRIAGE

We have already mentioned how that in Dowie's latter years, when he was
in desperate need of some balanced spiritual input into his life from
people who were close to him, it seems that his wife was of little help
(in fact, probably quite the reverse). This illustrates just how important
a strong and godly marriage is for God's servants, especially those
who are being continually bombarded by the devil because their ministry
against him is so effective. Those who are married, and who underestimate
the importance of their marriage to their ministry are extremely unwise.
The devil will be searching for any chink in their armour, and if there
are weaknesses in their marriage, he will exploit these to the full. It
is interesting to note that in a survey of the reasons why many divorced
women in the U.S. left their husbands, a large proportion of them answered
that it was because of "NEGLECT". Their husbands had got so busy with
their work, etc, that they had neglected their wives. And sadly, this is
true of many Christian ministries also. A tragic and fateful state of
affairs.

More than ever, I believe that in these Last Days, God desires to employ
ministries in which there is a deep love and an obvious spiritual
partnership between husband and wife. And this gives those of us who
are married the added advantage of having someone to "watch our back".
Remember, Paul wrote concerning the qualifications for eldership
or leadership in the church, that a man must be "the husband of one
wife... He must manage his own household well, keeping his children
submissive and respectful in every way; for if a man does not know how
to manage his own household, how can he care for God's church?" (1 Tim
3:2-5). Our family life is far more important to God than many of us
realize, and it gives real insight into whether or not we are truly
suited to being in ministry at all.

DELUDED INTO SIN

As stated earlier, spiritual pride has been the underlying root cause of
the fall of many ministries. The fatal presumption that "all must be
well" (despite whatever sin or deception they're involved in) just because
the anointing is still there, and the miracles are still happening,
is oh-so-common. And it is clearly this subtle pride which gives the
devil a 'legal doorway' through which he can begin to deceive them in
other areas also. You would be amazed at the excuses that such deceived
individuals come up with as to why a certain sin is "OK for them",
even though it is certainly NOT OK for everyone else. The devil managed
to delude and defeat a number of prominent ministries involved in the
American Healing Revival. He got to some of them with love of money,
ease and comfort, others through selfish ambition and envy, and some
even became drunkards. And yet many of them were still performing miracles
right to the end. But eventually, they lost everything. Speaking
of the decline of the Healing Revival, Gordon Lindsay observed that many
ministers had stopped "fasting and waiting before God." He said that many
of the ministries had declined, "largely because of a lack of humility
and because of a tendency to self-exaltation." He was reportedly
sickened by the increasing emphasis on money. "Lindsay later concluded
that even at the height of the revival many of the evangelists 'hadn't
prayed through, they hadn't touched God for their ministry, they just
put up their banner.'" (D. Harrell Jr, 'ALL Things are Possible',pg 139).

One of the most common of the devil's lures down through history, of
course, has been sexual sin (sometimes of a perverted nature, but usually
simple adultery). Please remember that the devil will be literally
throwing everything at such ministries (though usually in a disguised or
subtle way). They are hurting him, and he will not just stand idly by. He
will search and probe for that one chink in their armour. This is why in
the past God has often spent years training and preparing such ministries
in obscurity, before giving them their anointing and their commission. He
had to test them - to see whether or not they could survive the attacks
of the enemy, and the temptations to pride, etc. He had to feel confident
that He could entrust them with His anointing. And even then, He knew
that some of them would let Him down.

In his book, "Set the Trumpet to thy Mouth", David Wilkerson uncovered
some very interesting facts about the reasons why pastors and other
ministries in America were falling into adultery. A survey had been done,
and it became obvious what the number one strategy of the devil was. In
the vast majority of cases, these men had developed a close 'spiritual'
relationship with a woman other than their wife, and this is who they
ended up committing adultery with. They would often pray or discuss
the Bible with this spiritual woman, until eventually they became close
and intimate, and would be sharing things with her that they should have
been sharing with their wife. How 'spiritual' it all was! Wouldn't it be
wonderful to be married to a woman like this! (Not that they ever tried
to share with their own wife in this way). What subtle and cunning deception.
And Satan has had vast success in 'taking out' many promising
ministries just through this one technique alone. Then there's the old,
"I'm allowed more than one wife at a time" deception. (Despite what the
Bible says in 1 Tim 3:2, etc). Or, "God has shown me that my wife may
die, so I need another companion." As I said before, it's amazing what the
devil can get us humans to believe at times.

Almost every deception plays on secret desires or strongholds deep
within us. Part of us wants to believe that the deception is true. This
is why we must be so searingly and brutally honest with ourselves in
RENOUNCING such deceptions and strongholds, if we are ever going to be
truly free of them. ('Self-pity' is another subtle yet deadly one - the
true cause of much depression. Many people quite enjoy having the 'blues'
or feeling sorry for themselves, and this can be a most debilitating
stronghold in one's life. Don't make a "pet" of it - RENOUNCE IT!)

Another thing I also want to briefly touch on here is the danger of
"ENVY" entering into one's ministry. This too can be a very subtle yet
immensely destructive evil. (The Pharisees had Jesus killed due to
'envy', after all - Mk 15:10). If you ever find yourself feeling like
attacking or murmuring against a leader who operates in more power or
is better-known than you, just check your motives very carefully to see
that envy or selfish ambition is not one of the causes of your antagonism.
You would be amazed at the number of team ministries, etc, that
have been destroyed through this kind of envy of the leadership (whether
coming from without, or even worse - from within the group). Who knows
what motivated Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus? (Remembering that Judas
was one of the Twelve HAND-PICKED disciples). For some time now, I have
wondered whether or not the Antichrist that is to arise at the very end
of the age could be one of God's genuine end-time apostles - gone astray.
Does not the Bible call him the 'son of perdition', just like Judas? And
will he not move in powerful signs, wonders and miracles, just like the
genuine Last Days apostles? A frightening thought! (However, God's people
will discern the truth when the time comes). The pattern of the devil's
own fall seemed to be: Spiritual Pride, Envy (& selfish ambition), then
Rebellion. And of course, this same pattern is now constantly found
amongst fallen humans also (even Christian ones, sadly).

For God's true ministries, the secret to surviving the coming Last Days
period is basically the same as it's ever been. They must have a deep
hatred of sin, a genuine fear of God, a searing honesty with themselves,
and a heart after God's own heart - just as His servant David did. Only
then can they truly be sure of "enduring to the end". This is why God has
spent so long preparing and 'breaking' these ministries, before sending
them forth to lead His people out of bondage and into His glorious light
once again.

GOD NEEDS LEADERS!

While I have no doubt that the coming move of God will be even more
incredible than the great Healing Revival, and that the outpouring of His
Spirit will be far greater than anything that has ever been seen before,
I do believe that many of the same dangers and the same principles will
apply, just as they always have. We must learn the lessons from history,
or we are bound to repeat them.

One thing I do want to emphasise here, is that just like every previous
move of God, this one will need LEADERS anointed and raised up by God,
to advance and establish His Revival. Some people believe in a kind
of "leaderless" Revival, where God "does everything" and human leadership
is almost obselete. But from everything God has been saying about
the coming move, I would have to be frank and say that such people are
deluding themselves. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN, AND THERE NEVER WILL BE
A "LEADERLESS" REFORMATION-REVIVAL. Tell me this: Would there have ever
been a Book-of-Acts Revival without anointed apostles to lead it? And
would the Jews have escaped Egypt without an anointed Moses to lead
them? Would they have ever taken the promised land without a Joshua?
And could they have defeated the Philistines without an anointed David
or a Gideon? The answer is: NO - NEVER! God has always been, and
still is, utterly committed to USING MANKIND as His instruments and
leaders of Reformation and Revival in the earth. In fact, it would be
fair to say that for God NOT to use such human leadership, would be to
GO AGAINST THE ENTIRE BASIC NATURE OF HIS DEALINGS WITH MANKIND. As with
every Reformation-Revival, God simply must have His leaders.

I can well understand why a number of Christians today have become
disillusioned and disenchanted with much of today's church leadership.
But I cannot understand why they would want to do away with the
whole concept of "leadership" altogether. The fact is, God may very
well want to use THEM as leaders in the coming Revival. But I have found
that a number of them hate the idea of leadership and authority so much
that it is doubtful if they would ever heed God's call. (I have to ask:-
Couldn't this just be a form of subtle 'Rebellion'? What is the true
motivation behind such a dislike of godly authority?) This whole thing
has been of great concern to me for a number of years now. It is my belief
(backed by much that God has been saying right around the world)
that He has been secretly preparing a company of future Revival leaders
for many years now (hidden, as always) - the Joshuas and Davids who will
suddenly arise in God's perfect timing to lead His people into Revival.
If some of these men and women do not heed God's call, then we are in
big trouble, surely? But on the other hand, perhaps this is just another
example of the truth of the old saying, "Many are called, but few are
chosen"? (I urge you to pray and think about these things).

What God has clearly spoken to me is:- "NO LEADERS - NO REVIVAL". And
He has also said that "WHEN THE NEW APOSTLES ARISE, REVIVAL WILL
BEGIN." Just like the early church, it will be the new apostles who will
carry the genuine Revival anointing in these Last Days, and it will be
when they arise that Revival will truly start. (This has been so with
every true Reformation-Revival). These will be men of enormous godly
authority and power. They will certainly not abuse such authority, but
neither will they be afraid to "reprove, rebuke and exhort" where necessary.
And these powerful ministries, along with the many prophets and
evangelists who are also about to arise, will go forth under a mighty
anointing - an army 'terrible, with banners' - "destroying the works of
the devil" in Jesus' name. Many of these leaders may seem rather 'rough'
by outward appearance (just like the ex-fishermen and tax collectors of
the Book of Acts), but they will walk in total heart-purity before God.
And I also believe that though they may not be 'apostles' as such, God
is going to use CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS in a tremendous way in the coming
Revival as well (often in a way that may even put the adults to shame).
What glorious days these will be.

Chapter Eight

SMITH WIGGLESWORTH'S VISION.

The following account is of a particularly powerful vision given to Smith
Wigglesworth during the early part of World War II, when he was being
visited by a young Lester Sumrall (the well-known healing-deliverance
evangelist and founder of the charitable organization 'Feed the Hungry').
This account of Wigglesworth's vision comes from pg 168-169 of
Lester Sumrall's 1995 book, 'Pioneers of Faith':

"... Shutting his eyes again, he said, 'I see the greatest revival in the
history of mankind coming to Planet earth, maybe as never before. And
I see every form of disease healed. I see whole hospitals emptied with
no one there. Even the doctors are running down the streets shouting.'

"He told me that there would be untold numbers of uncountable multitudes
that would be saved. No man will say 'so many, so many,' because
nobody will be able to count those who come to Jesus. No disease will be
able to stand before God's people... 'It will be a worldwide situation,
not local,' he said, 'a worldwide thrust of God's power and God's
anointing upon mankind.'

"Then he opened his eyes and looked at me and said, 'I will not see it,
but you shall see it. The Lord says that I must go on to my reward, but
that you will see the mighty works that He will do upon the earth in the
last days.'

"... The idea that I would get to see this revival was almost overwhelming.
And in the last decade or so, I believe we have seen this revival
begin to sweep the earth. We have seen amazing moves of God in Africa...
Recently, I was in China and met with the underground church. I was told
there are at least forty-five million Full Gospel Christians in China.
I discovered a depth of prayer and integrity there that I have not
felt anywhere else in the world... So I believe we are seeing Wigglesworth's
prophecy begin to be fulfilled. We are seeing the first stages
of it." (-Lester Sumrall died on April 28, 1996).

Another of Wigglesworth's prophecies states that the last great Revival
will bring a marrying together of the "Word" and the "Spirit" in a way
we have not seen before. There have been many Revivals involving the spoken
'word' in a major way - notably those of Edwards, Wesley, Finney, etc. And
over the last century there have been many
Revivals that majored on the Holy Spirit. But this is to be one that
involves a "marrying together" of the spoken-word type ministry and
the Holy Spirit-focused ministry. What power will be released when this
happens! Can you imagine the preaching of a 'Charles Finney' combined with
the signs and miracles of a healing revivalist?

Interestingly, in the 1990's a well-known international
preacher prophesied that two prominent Christian
leaders must die before the great Revival will come. This lines up very
well with what God has been showing myself and others about key leaders
of the 'Old Guard' needing to pass on before God's new leadership
can truly emerge. In recent years we have seen Derek Prince,
Kenneth Hagin and Bill Bright pass away. It is certainly an interesting
prophecy, and a fascinating time to be alive.

It is my belief that we now live on the verge of the most momentous
days in the history of the church. The glory of God is about to come
down. And no longer will God's people be a laughing-stock, both of
men and of devils. Clearly, the time is soon coming when God's 'mighty
men and women of valour' must again come to the fore, as in days of
old. I believe that God is again looking in our day for men and women
who will risk everything for Him, who have died to sin and to self, who
cannot abide fleshly showmanship or hype, and who desire only to
serve God with a purity of spirit rather than an excess of soul-power.

Surely Watchman Nee's words are tragically true, not only of many
Christians today, but sadly of many leaders also: "The corrupted old
man in the believer has died but his soul remains the power behind his
walk. On the one hand the sinful nature has been drastically touched
but on the other hand the self life still persists and therefore cannot
escape being soulish... To depend upon the soul life to carry out the
wish of the spirit is to use natural (or human) force to accomplish
supernatural (or divine) goodness. This is simply trying to fulfill
God's demand with self-strength... Few are those disposed honestly to
acknowledge their weakness and incapability and to lean utterly upon
God. Who will confess his uselessness if he has not been humbled by the
grace of God? Man takes pride in his prowess... He does not understand
that however good to the human outlook his efforts may appear to be,
they can never please God... He fails miserably to be spiritual and
continues to abide in the soul." (Watchman Nee, 'The Spiritual Man',
Vol.1-3).

It is in the barren 'wilderness' of brokenness and despair, that God
chooses to deal with such soulish self-power in His servants. And it is
only when this 'self' has been utterly put to the sword that God can afford
to entrust these servants with His miracle-working power. Only
when they desire nothing but His glory, can He grant them the weapons
of a mighty warfare. As a prophecy that was given several years ago in
America stated: "I have used many swords in years past; and some
were made of polluted metals. I used them because they were the only
weapons available to Me. But for this last Great Revival, I must have
swords of the purest metals which have been through the hottest fires
so that they will not break in My Hand..."

It is my belief that our Almighty God is now looking for men and women
whom He can entrust with such an anointing. He is looking for a people
who will truly "love not their lives unto the death", who know the dangers
but who are willing to risk all (even in light of the failure of some
in the past), to see God glorified and His standard raised in the earth
in our day. We are still surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses - men
and women who fought a glorious fight and ran a peerless race. And God
is now looking for men and women of this same ilk, who hunger and thirst
after Him, who press forward into the deep things of God, and who
have willingly paid the price and spent much time alone with Him. Like
Elisha, who would not let go of Elijah until he had received a double
portion of that great prophet's anointing, they will never let go of
God until He blesses them with a similar enduement.

Charles Finney said, "PRAY MOST for the Holy Spirit of God, and WRESTLE
MOST with God for His blessing... If you have the Holy Spirit of God,
you must expect to feel great distress in view of the condition of the
church, and of the world." It is only through such fervent, agonizing,
WRESTLING prayer that we can break through into these greater realms
in God. And then, how Satan will oppose us! (And most likely, the
church leaders also). As the apostle Paul wrote: "For we do not want
you to be ignorant, brethren, of OUR TROUBLE which came to us in Asia:
that we were BURDENED BEYOND MEASURE, ABOVE STRENGTH, SO THAT WE
DESPAIRED EVEN OF LIFE." (2 Cor 1:8).

As David, king of Israel declared, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the
living God" (Ps 42:2). And it was clearly the apostle Paul's great desire,
"That I may KNOW HIM [JESUS], and the power of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death" (Philipp 3:10). Again, Charles Finney declared: "Revival comes
from heaven when heroic souls enter the conflict determined to win or
die... 'The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the VIOLENT TAKE
IT BY FORCE.'" Some years ago, God shared with me the secret of becoming
part of the new move of God. It is simply this:- "WHO DARES WINS". As
I said before, I believe that God is currently searching for such men
and women, "tried as by fire", who will lead His people into the coming
great war. And "DARING" will be one of the most important qualifications.
Tell me, friend, will you be one of these?... "But TARRY YE in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be ENDUED WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH" (Lk 24:49).

PERMISSION IS GRANTED to 'link'-to, photocopy and pass around this work. However, if you wish
to 'publish' it or parts of it, you will need to obtain permission first.
Andrew Strom - email: astrom@revivalschool.com

This book can be found at- http://www.revivalschool.com

{Grateful acknowledgement to Larry Magnello for a good portion of the concept and some
of the research that has gone into this publication. Used by permission}.